Garden State and the Village
OK it's movie discussion time. I will start with the Village. This is definitely my least favorite M. Night movie so far. However, because it is an M. Night movie there are still many redeeming qualities. My favorite M. Night movie by a long shot is Unbreakable because of how well it holds up on repeat viewings. Plus, like the Sixth Sense, the ending makes perfect sense. Here I didn't really care for the ending, or I should say how the ending was delivered.
I loved the first half of the Village due to it's intriguing story, moody atmosphere, and suspense. But I believe it falls apart in the last third because M. Night tries to trick us one too many times. Due to the fact that many of you haven't seen it yet I will not post spoilers . For those of you that have seen it, I will post my thoughts in the comment section and you can check them out now. Otherwise stay away. But basically I believe The Village is M. Night's satire on fear mongering by the Bush administration. Hmmm...
Garden State
First of all, I had a bit of a special connection with this movie because a couple of years ago I went through a similar situation as the main character. In the movie Zack Braff's character is going home to New Jersey to attend his mom's funeral after being away for ten years . I had my ten year reunion the same day as my dad's funeral and let me tell you the first night of the reunion was the most confused,aliented, and alone I have ever felt in my life. I wasn't just paranoid, people actaully were talking about me everywhere I turned. I just wanted to run away really. There is a scene in the movie where Zach is reunited with his friends at a party and he looks completely out of place and emotionally removed. Like he is thinking "who are these people and what the hell am I doing here?" Been there done that. The movie conveys these emotions perfectly.
Personal similarities aside this is a basic 'boy returns home and meets/visits many quirky local characters and learns something about himself' story. But it works. It's very funny and touching at the same time. Also, Natalie Portman steals the show as his new epileptic compulsive-lying girlfriend. As a bonus, she is now much older than the 13 year-old she portrayed when she stole the movie Beautiful Girls and so I no longer need to feel guilty about thinking she is hot.
The music throughout Garden State also never disappoints. Coldplay, Zero 7, The Postal Service, Iron and Wine (covering the Postal Service) all contribute great songs here. Also, The Shins recieve there High Fidelity moment (a la The Beta Band) when Natalie Portman's character places headphones on Zach's head and tells him how much she loves The Shins. Then New Slang is played. Very cool. It's like someone took one of my mix cd''s and told the producers to use it for the soundtrack.
More Village thoughts in the comment section.
Please post your thoughts on these two movies as well.
2 comments:
I think that the Elder's losses in the real world are their own collective 911. It seemed random acts of violence were brought upon to each of their family members. This made them fearful of everyone.
Using money from a rich but non-compassionate man they shield themselves in the woods from this terror. The rich man is names Walker. The W in George W Bush stands for walker.
In the world today anytime we question our government, the president, or whenever John Kerry gets too much press, we get terror alerts. The alerts are not specific and are based on color codes. We are told to live our lives as normal but deep down we are supposed to be afraid.
In the Village the young villagers are told there is evil in the woods. There are terrorists out there that can harm you if you go into the woods. Anytime people get too comfortable or curious the Elders send out a alert suggesting that the terrorists are coming. We know this because the supposed terrorists leave color codes on the doors. The villagers are supposed to live in constant fear and are not to question the elders about these rules. They are just supposed to trust that the Elders are doing the right thing.
Your thoughts?
I liked Garden State as well. It could've been a little shorter, however, not bad for Zach's first film. I liked the romantic side of it as well as the self-realization side. It makes you realize how easy it is for some people to slip through the cracks. It also makes you think to cherish the friends who actually take the time to really get to kow and who really give a shit about the end result!-Rachizzle
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